Three months ago on December 13, 2013, a jury in Essex County New Jersey returned a record personal injury verdict in the total amount of more than one hundred sixty six million ($166,000,000) dollars in favor of a four year old boy who had been badly beaten by his criminally abuse father because New Jersey’s Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS) had failed to act on repeated pleas and warnings from the boy’s maternal grandmother, Neomi Escobar.

The beatings rendered the poor little boy blind, unable to talk or walk, subject to constant seizures, and dependent on a feeding tube and round-the-clock care to give him the nutrition he needs and to keep him from suffocating. Post-trial interviews put jurors in tears as they tried to grapple with the terribly emotional tragedy while performing their sworn legal function to render justice. They had returned verdicts in the amount of one hundred five million ($105,000,000) dollars for the boy’s future medical expenses, fifty eight million ($58,000,000) dollars for his pain and suffering, about two million ($2,000,000) dollars for caretaker services, and one point four million ($1,400,000) dollars for future lost wages, and put all the blame on DYFS for the tragedy.

However, attorneys for DYFS filed a challenge to the verdicts, and this past Wednesday, March 19, 2014, the Honorable James Rothschild Jr., who presided over the trial, decided that the facts and law required some changes to the jury’s verdicts. Specifically, the Court reduced the verdict for future medical expenses from $105 million dollars to $75.9 million dollars. In addition, he laid twenty-five (25%) percent of the blame for the tragedy at the feet of the boy’s now incarcerated father, effectively reducing the obligation of DYFS to seventy-five (75%) percent. Together this modification of medical expenses and reassignment of blame has resulted in a reduction of DYFS responsibility from $166 million dollars to $102 million dollars.

No word at this writing whether either side plans to challenge the trial court’s decision in the Appellate Division.

If you or your loved one has been injured due to the negligence of another, contact Personal Injury Lawyer NJ Patrick Amoresano for a free consultation at 201-704-2280.

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